


"I'll Drink It... That Dragon's Blood"

by 13thSyndicate



Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: First Person, Gen, No Dialogue, Zeno doesn't use anyone's names, as first person as Zeno ever gets anyway, spoilers for chapters 100+, zeno and the gang, zeno has memories of things, zeno talks about the past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-24
Updated: 2016-08-24
Packaged: 2018-08-10 18:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7855675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/13thSyndicate/pseuds/13thSyndicate
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, when Zeno closes his eyes, he can still taste it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"I'll Drink It... That Dragon's Blood"

Sometimes, when Zeno closes his eyes, he can still taste it. It burns like fire on his tongue and tastes like the sounds of the voices of the gods. It is sweet and powerful and terrifying and exhilarating and terrible and wonderful, all at the same time. It is something he can never forget.

He remembers how it felt, the blood seeming to rush backward in his body, boiling until it is air and fire in equal parts. It hurt, but it was a good hurt, it cleaned and purified and made him feel strong. When Zeno woke, he felt like he could do anything. He knew there was a place he needed to go and a thing he needed to do. He heard the voice of Ouryuu - the voice of the last god ever to speak to him - and he knew he must always follow its commands.

It's strange to remember, sometimes. Zeno is old, old, and there are many years of memories to sift through. But that one is always there. Always lingers, fresh and strong like the day it was made. Zeno's body is strong and cannot be hurt, but his memory forgets, sometimes. That, though...

I will never, ever forget that day.

Ahhh, Hakuryuu wonders if it felt like when he first met the Miss, yes? Zeno can't say for sure. Zeno is bound to King Hiryuu and though he knew the Miss when he saw her for sure, for sure, he didn't hear the voice of the dragon again. Not like Hakuryuu and Seiryuu and Ryokuryuu. He still feels the pull, the compulsion. But his blood wasn't sleeping like yours.

Seiryuu mumbles that it burned. That his eyes felt like they were throbbing. Zeno is sorry about that. The gods don't know how to be gentle. They are big and powerful and strong and when they deal with mortals, sometimes they are like clumsy children, who break things because they don't know their own strength. Zeno listed to the gods for many years, many years, and there is a reason they only speak through priests. It takes a strong soul to hear the voice of a god, yes, yes. But Zeno understands the feeling. When Zeno first met King Hiryuu, his body hurt all over. Like the fire of the blood, but stronger and all across his body. Hauryuu felt it in his arm, Ryokuryuu in his leg - and Seiryuu in his eyes. All four of us understood what we were meant to do.

Ryokuryuu mumbles something about destiny, then speaks pretty words, waving it off with a smile and a laugh - but that laugh is so bitter. Zeno knows that feeling well. Zeno stopped keeping count of the years, the centuries, but too much time makes anyone bitter. Ryokuryuu was ill-used by his people. Zeno knows they don't remember him, these cute dragons that Hiryuu would have loved so much, that the Miss loves now more than life itself, but he remembers them. Sometimes he feels Seiryuu's eyes on him and wonders if maybe that one remembers, just a little bit.

This is one of those times, where the fire is on Zeno's tongue again. As if he were still there, as if he were staring down Ouryuu once more and demanding the blood be placed in front of me. I- he- Zeno, Zeno remembers. The sweetness is this bond with his new brothers. The fire is the old bond, lost to time. The power sizzles in his body and he knows, this time, _this_ time, no one will die. Yona's dragons will live long lives.

Even if I have to tear the heavens apart - even if I have to offer this cursed body as payment.

My words from that day spring unbidden to my mind, along with the taste in my mouth, and I can feel the scales lurking beneath the skin, ready to emerge at a moment's notice, to shield another at the price of my own flesh.

"If I can help even one person... make this world a better place... then I'll drink it, that dragon's blood."


End file.
